Forgotten Genre Productions

For Christmas this year I decided I was going to get a guitar. The last couple of years for Christmas I used my Christmas money on studio gear. One year I upgraded my Studio computer, one year it was an ART Pro Channel tube channel strip, another year it was a mic I haven’t made any guitar purchases for a long time. This year however I am about to start on a project where I will be playing a little guitar and a little bass and I wanted to have the tools for tone that were necessary. I actually came close to purchasing a Les Paul Traditional Gold top. I never really saw myself as a Les Paul guy but I picked up a limited edition Les Paul for a customer of mine. There were only 100 of these models available and when it arrived in the shop I thought to my self, “what is the big deal here about a les paul. Aren’t these just over hyped over priced guitars with a name stamped on them?” So I pulled out the guitar and tuned it and played it and loved it. First of all the neck was solid on it. I like a big fat neck on my guitars, which is why I have kept my Washburn grover jackson designed MG410. If I could find another one of those guitars I would buy it in a second. They are worthless on the market but the neck is the fatest neck I have seen and the frets are these huge jumbo frets that are so easy to play. I am not a fast player I am really looking for tone. So much of the tone comes from the neck and thin little heavy metal necks do not cut it for me. Anywho, The Les Paul blew me away. I had this plan that I would put it on law a way and sell some gear and have the guitar some day. After dwelling on it for weeks I came to the conclusion that I could not justify spending that kind of money at this point in my life. I still wanted something so my quest went on. In searching I came across the JA-90 Fender Tele which is the Jim Adkins Signature tele. Jim is from Jimmy Eats World. I loved the idea of the P90’s and the different tonal options there. I started to lean towards this guitar and as I was researching it I discovered that the guitar was modeled after Jim’s TC90 tele that was no longer made when I saw the picture I loved the double cut away and the over all look. The guitar also has a set neck which is  a very nice feature. These guitars were made in Korea and the workmanship was excellent on them. On a whim I decided to do a search to see if Guitar Center had any used ones in the chain and sure enough I found one in Oklahoma City. I ordered it and waited. It arrived last week and I loved it. In the mean time I decided to take my lovely wife’s advice and clear out some of the gear that I was not using because I was waiting for the right project. I traded in a guitar and a couple of pedals that I had not used in a while and ended up paying much less than I would have for the Paul and I have a unique guitar that I love.

Many of you know that when I am not in the studio my day gig is selling pro audio gear to Lancaster’s finest. I truly enjoy my job and interacting with local musicians and techies etc. Today I had an interaction with a customer that brought clarity to some thoughts that I have been seeking to connect and make sense out of for a while. Allow me to elaborate. This gentleman was representing his company that were looking to install a simple public address system for emergencies and announcements in the facility. Since there was over 24 speakers we decided to go with a 70v system. 70 volt systems are not very accurate from a musical perspective. They have very low wattage but are great for multiple speaker configurations. Since this was a voice only no music system 70v was appropriate. The gentleman I was working with, let’s call him Bob for now, was the maintenance guy at the facility and is a great guy. The challenge hear for Bob is he does not know much about audio and installation of audio but his company wants to save money by doing the installation in house as apposed to hiring a Specialist in the audio installation field. Now we can all understand that in this day and age saving a buck is on everyone’s mind. Here’s the problem.

The reason we have Specialists in different fields is because in a capitalistic society such as where we live, people have assessed their situation and determined they did not know enough about whatever field they were dealing with. Instead of damaging things or taking time to learn or familiarize themselves with the problem before them, they determined it would be 10 times faster to have a Specialist in the field that handles these particular issues handle them, thus saving them time, and time is money right? This frees them up to complete the tasks before them that they are qualified and best suited to complete. This is efficient and everyone wins. The Specialist gets paid and the recipient of there services is not inconvenienced and in the long run is more profitable.

Now, today we live in a time were people are terrified of the bottom line and will “save” money at all cost. The problem is the people counting pennies have no clue what it takes to complete these specialised jobs. They never had to worry about it in the past due to the fact that the Specialist was handling it. To them it is easy. “You just hook it up,” they might say. “It’s not rocket science right?” They go back to doing what they do and expect the same results that they received from the Specialist. The problem is poor Bob has no clue what he is doing. So what does he do? He demands that I comfort him and tell him how to do the job, or how to be a Specialist. The problem is I am not a Specialist in that field. I am a Specialist in figuring out what parts and pieces of equipment Bob needs for his task and getting it for Bob at a great price that is much lower than anybody Else’s price. I do not install. That is a totally different discipline. Nor can I be held responsible for anything that goes wrong when I tell someone to hook up the orange wire and they thought I said the red wire.

Poor Bob. He is caught in the middle all because someone wants to save money at whatever cost. Wait a minute. Whatever cost? Cost is a term related to finance. Money is a term related to finance. You cannot save money at whatever cost. I’m sure there is a literary term that communicates the contradiction of this statement but it escapes me at this time. If you want to save money you assume the consequences of the full weight of that task on your shoulders. You can empower yourself and google installation to learn how to do it. You can wing it and learn from your mistakes or you can pass the buck to someone else. Whatever the case may be when the task is done, no matter how shoddy of job was done, it is your job. You made it so by foregoing the Specialist’s input.

The same thing goes for recording your own album or mixing and mastering without a Specialist. If the project is not that great, and when no one comes out of the woodwork to buy the disc or download the tracks, it is no ones fault but yours. You are trying to pass yourself off as a Specialist. However you are not special. The Joshua Tree was recorded and mixed by a Specialist. The Beatles “White” album was recorded and mixed by a Specialist.

Now for those who claim to be Specialists. Be Special. It’s that simple. Please, be special. Practice, study, learn, practice some more, practice even more, study, learn, and practice still more. Oh yea and one more thing. If you are under 25 years of age, you are not a Specialist. It’s that simple. If you have to try to convince me that you are an exception to this rule than you are most definitely not a Specialist. This is not because I said so. It is because, with a few exceptions you have not been around long enough to acquire the skill and fundamental knowledge to be considered a Specialist. You would benefit greatly by attaching yourself to the closest thing to a Specialist you can find in your field and learning as much from them as you can.

So go out there and pursue the qualifications of a Specialist and for those who have no need anymore for Specialists please take responsibility for your un-special work.

    out-li-er\noun

1: something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body

2: a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample

Winter is such a great time to read. When the temperature drops I love to stay inside and sit down at my green chair in my studio and catch up on my reading. Reading is becoming a lost art sadly enough. It is being replaced by television, internet, movies, and video games. There is so much out there to learn and reading is a great way to stimulate your brain and in essence force it to concentrate on concepts in a different way then you default to in ordinary daily activities.

I came across This book by Malcolm Gladwell titled Outliers and it fascinated me. Malcolm is a staff writer for The New Yorker and was formerly a buisness and science reporter at the Washington Post.In Outliers Malcolm takes a look at success and how we view those that are successful and how they got there. Malcolm takes a look at people like Bill Gates, Bill Joy , and Steve Jobs. He also looks at Jewish lawyers in New York. Young hockey players in Canada students in Asia and Commercial Pilots. He also discusses what he calls the 10,000 hour rule. Malcolms case is that any successful act of artistic, scientific, musical or creative endeavor happens after about 10,000 hours of practice. He uses the Beatles as an example. When the Beatles were a young band they traveled to Germany to play in a bordello. They played 8 hours a day for a period between 1960 and 1962. In that time they really solidified their playing and built the foundation for their career. He also speaks of Mozart who many say started composing at the age of 6. The reality was that much of his early work was not that outstanding and he had help from his father who may or may not have added to his works.

Of the concertos that only contain original material from Mozart, the earliest that is now regarded as a masterwork(No.9, K 271) was not composed until he was 21.-( From Genius Explained by psychologist Michael Howe)

Malcolm also takes a look at Bill Gates life story. Bill Gates himself says that he was very “lucky” When he was in grade school his school purchased a computer that he and a few other kids were allowed to program on. Now for us today this is no big deal but we are talking 1968. Most colleges didn’t have computers at that time. Then there were some mothers that raised funds to keep the computer club going. And another mother that worked for a new tech company arranged for the computer club to beta test some software. Long story short, by the time Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard in his Junior year he had over 10,000 hours of programming experience in a time where not many people knew what a computer was. Talk about right place right time. If Bill Gates was born 5 or 10 years later things would have looked a little different. Or what if Bill would have went to school across town or on the other side of the tracks so to speak. Would he have had that opportunity. There are countless fascinating stories like this. The point that I love is that success takes hard work Bill Gates spent hours and hours as a teen programming. The Beatles spent hours and hours playing music together. By the time they made it big in 1964 they had played live over 1200 times. Many young musicians and artists want to have this amazing act of creativity but they do not work for it. I have done projects for musicians that have never played a legitamate gig. I have recorded singers that have sang live less than 10 times. Does that mean they are no good? No, there is a ton of potential there. The question is will they continue to work and work until they reallly hit there stride or will they sit on their laurels thinking that they are actually creating significant art. Much humility is needed here. For myself do I consider the mixes that I have done up until this point as worth discussing. That would be gross optimism. However I know the more I do the better it gets each project gets better than the next. So my goal needs to be to record and mix, record and mix, record and mix. What is the duty of the writer? To write and re-write, and re-write. Hone your craft. How naive is it to think that the first song you wrote is any good. or for that matter the 22 song you write. Time will tell if you have what it takes. If you work at it long enough you will grow. Do not wait for all the planets to align on that one night where you write Let it Be.

It takes hard work to be successful. Oh yeah, there is one other thing. You need the right circumstances to give you the opportunities to have the time for all that practice and honing of the craft. Now as a believer in God and the Gospel I see God’s sovereign will at work in life all around me. It is sad that those who do not see God in control in their life have to wait for chance or have to claw their way to the top and take what they want because no one will give it to them. What a comfort it is to me that “God will make my paths straight.” and ” That he knows the plans he has for me” I continue to rest in God’s sovereign hand in my life. I thank him for all he has done. All the opportunity he has given me.

So don’t forget to embrace work. embrace practice, embrace every gig, and don’t forget to read. There is so much to learn.

Wow what a busy time. I’m sorry I’m a little behind in posting. It has been a full schedule. I have been between 3 projects and have just completed mixing 1 of those for the Buskers, That leaves a jazz project for Chuck Ottel and a 3 day session out at the Gerdy Farm. On top of that I just started tracking a Christmas Album for Matt, Monticchio, David Green, and Hiram Ring. They will also have some other special guests like Katy Becker, Cliff b Lewis and Chauncy Stillman and maybe a few others. It is a good challenge for me All these musicians are reaching for something outside the normal Christmas Album box and are going for some transcendent musical moments. It keeps me on my toes and I get to learn a lot from everyone involved. I have also been doing a couple of live sound gigs which are always challenging. I feel like I am learning every day and honing my craft. I will post more specific details as I get a chance. I will also post some photos of the Christmas Album Sessions. On top of all of that I have the privilege of enjoying life with the most beautiful woman in the world, my wife Tracy. On August 11 we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. I can honestly say that I love my wife 7  times more than the day I married her, maybe even more. God has been so kind to me. That doesn’t mean our marriage has been perfect bliss. It has had it’s share of conflicts and challenges. In the end however I see God’s kindness in placing me with someone who can push the buttons that help me see areas I need to grow in. Only my wife has been able to do that. I love you Tracy. Did I mention that I celebrated our anniversary by being in the studio for the Christmas Project. Don’t be alarmed we are planning on celebrating on another day. Stay tuned for more Recording and Producing fun.

Tom Petty’s new/old Mudcrutch project has been a pleasant reminder of what music used to be like. I hate to start a post like that because it makes me sound like a crotchedy old man recalling when I used to walk 2 miles in the snow carrying my Boombox on my shoulder when all the music was wholesome and fun. I don’t want to be that guy; on top of that there is some great music out there these days you just have to search a little harder for it. All that to say Tom Petty wrote some amazing songs and they were pop landmarks. Who can deny the power of Free Fallin, I won’t Back Down, Runnin Down a Dream, American Girl and so many others. Before Tom had the Heartbreakers to back him up he was in a band called Mudcrutch and they have since reformed and released an album. I love the guitar work here and just the sense of rocking out with out makeup and preconceptions. Enjoy Mike Campbells work towards the end.

This also reminds me of the time I worked a Tom Petty show in Nashville I was doing the load in and we had already built front of house and the stacks and racks and I was taking a breather on the stage. I was looking at the guitar world particularrly the 3 or 4 Voc AC30’s and I think there were some old fenders too and Mike Campbells Guitar tech came over and gave me an ear full yelling about how I couldn’t go near the amps blah blah blah. I sheepishly gave him the sorry dude look and then backed up the obligatory 10 feet. Ten minutes later this same guitar tech was “helping,” the only girl on our crew to unpack Mike Campbells 10 guitars. “Helping” her pull them out of there cases and set them on the guitar stand. laughing and giggleing at each other when she asked him what kind of guitar it was. One more proof that Roadies and stage hands are some of the crustiest people you will meet. Anywho enjoy the video.

sow1      /soʊ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[soh] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation, verb, sowed, sown or sowed, sow·ing.

–verb (used with object)

–verb (used without object)

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reap      /rip/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[reep] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–verb (used with object)

–verb (used without object)

I have been thinking a lot about this age old concept and how it has affected my life. The reality is, I am seeing things happening now that are a direct result of my lack of planning and fore-site. For some reason I always thought I would not live past 30 years old. I thought the world would end or I would get hit with a bus or something and I would die young. Possibly it was an inability to picture myself as an old man. In reality it allowed me to carry out the foolish desires of youth which is to live for now and have all my fun now. Spend all my money today. Well tomorrow is today and I have very little to show for it. Understand, this is not morbid depression that incapacitates me from doing anything and causes me to just curl up and suck my thumb or to hopelessly fall back into my foolishness. Instead I am filled with hope because the reality of this teaching on reaping and sowing from the Bible is that if we sow to the spirit we will reap eternal life. Galations 6 where you will find this teaching says [7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. ]  SO my friends, be encouraged. Do not grow weary in doing good. Whether it is the practical of practicing your instrument, or finishing that song, or becoming debt free and controlling your spending or evaluating what takes up your time and energies. Or maybe the spiritual of what you are investing your resources in, or maybe it’s a call to repent and return to Christ. Be filled with hope and sow to the Spirit.

I have been thinking a lot lately of delayed gratification. This is one of the things that I have been trying to address in my life. What comes naturally to me is instant gratification. I want what I want and I want it now. This has affected my personal finances, my physical health, my personal discipline, and my spiritual discipline. Have you been affected by Instant Gratification? For you song writers it could be calling a song complete before it is. Maybe you have a phrase that does not fit the content of the song but rhymes really well. Or maybe it’s a lame chorus that you just don’t feel like rewriting. If you are in production it could be accepting a mix that isn’t quite right because it means making a few more adjustments. Or maybe it is talking yourself out of that new mic or preamp purchase until you can afford it or until you are a master of the equipment you already own. If you are in a romantic relationship it could be flirting with someone other than who you are involved with. I would be willing to guess that everyone that reads this can recall a situation possibly even this week that you have not practiced delayed gratification when you clearly should have.

I am looking for ways to practice delayed gratification. If you see me ask me how I am doing.

I took my wife to the Moon Dancer Winery in Wrightsville. It is a hidden Gem. We went after they closed and sat on the patio overlooking the vineyards and the Susquhanna River. We had a picnic meal and then sat and talked until the sun started going down. It was beautiful. Moon Dancer Winery also has outdoor concerts in the summer and through the fall. If you live in the Central PA area you should check them out. Stay tuned maybe we will have a Forgotten Genre Music in the Vineyards event . Who knows.